Tipi Wills & Mediation have developed an Advance Care Plan document in the same way you can organise an Advance Directive if anything should, or has happened to you.  It also acts as a centralised and accessible safe place to store or record important healthcare and legal documents.  This would form part of your complete Life Care Plan to ensure you have put all the necessary documents in place.   You may need this now, imminently or are preparing yourself for the future.  Do this while you are able and have the physical and mental strength to organise, well ahead of time.

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The time to do your Life Care Plan and ACP?  Anytime.  Over 40?  You can start.  Over 50?  Definitely.  Over 60 and it should be in place.  It is incredibly common for it to be too late to prepare all this easily.  Suddenly social services and carers are involved, seeking advocates, family to become involved and there are no attornies and no healthcare directions.  It effectively starts when it is too late.  Information is loaded onto the computer and invariably they have to leave blank this vital information because it is unknown, even if in place.  All agencies involved in your care want you to have the best care and have prepared in good time.  This has little to do with how healthy and fit you are and how great your life is.  Anything can happen at any time.

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If you already have, or are diagnosed with illness, accident or injury, that is a very good time to undertake your Life Care Plan because it focusses your mind.  If you think this is hard to face now, imagine trying to face it when you are 80, ill, confused, overwhelmed, when everyone else is trying their best on your behalf.

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An Advance Care Plan :

i)  would give clear personal instructions to your family and any carer or health professional.  This enables you to direct organising your care, wants and particular needs

ii)  would provide a framework that healthcare givers can comply with in respect to legal obligations regarding your care. 

iii)  take a large burden off family knowing you have given your clear instructions that are in an accessible central place.  (This is an area that can get so challenging that the hospital may need to call in legal or mediation services where families can fracture sometimes irreperably.  It is not an area to be underestimated).

iv)  Provide you with an opportunity to consider the legal documents you might need in place to complete a whole Life Care Plan to include a Living Will, Powers of Attorney, Document of Decisions, up to date Will.

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We provide you with a sectioned folder, that you can make as personal as you wish, to include pictures of you and loved ones; your life or work history, family, as a child or parent or friend or partner; notes of happy memories, all of which help carers to talk with you about things that are important to you and help if you feel low.  Your food preferences, your entertainment likes and dislikes regarding tv and radio for example, your self care such as hair and nails, footcare and any host of preferences that make you comfortable and happy.  You may keep it short and succinct and/or consider it an ongoing record.  Add things to it as you go along and then keep it with you should you get ill and/or go into care.

 

Consult us whenever you like if you think various things need updating.  You may then have it as a keepsake for those that love you too.  Consider it a Smart Scrap Book.

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This page contains lots of information on this and the Life Care Plan as does the Advance Care Plan page

 

The Advance Care Plan stores each of your documents containing your important instructions in one central place.  It notifies where other important private documents and information are stored such as your Will (another document prone to going missing), passwords, digital assets, financial account information and so on. 

 

It is important to store together with your Living Will / Advance Directive because sometimes it cannot be found.  There are cases where a Living Will came to light later, buried deep in GP records, which was quite a problem for the health carers because unwittingly they were contraveneing the patient wishes, ie breaking the law.  Any medical carers are bound by so cannot carry out care against your wishes.

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The Advance Care Plan can also contain:

a)  Full details regarding : health, diet, beliefs, emergency contacts, photographs, likes, dislikes, wants and needs, memories, section with details & personal directory of important people, telephone numbers of places important to you like the vet, hairdressers, cafe, social meets, (a community garden or regular coffee/lunch meets, church friends, for example to support your social structure as you age/are ill).  It may be important to easily access important contacts as you age or are ill and it helps if your carer/family members know too, also AgeUK befriending service; particular support or helplines; food delivery; gardener; and so on.  Our sections guide you.

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It's very flexible so you choose when and if, what sections you fill in now or maybe certain information later and/or amend as needed later.  It will depend on your current or anticipated circumstances and you can take as much time as you need after completing [basic] details with us.  You may take as long as you need to develop a full picture. 

Only you know you as well as you do.

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It will store :

a) Your Living Will/Advance Directive

b)  A Document of Decisions (in Right to Die at Home and perhaps other Planning)

c)  Lasting Power of Attorney details

e)  details of where your Will is stored

f)  whereabouts of any other important details such as passwords, digital assets and accounts

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These documents will give you a chance to consider things you may not have yet considered, but which are actually really important to you.  For example, where you want to be if you were at the end of your life, who would you want there, if there is anything you want close to you, what you do not want if ...., whether there are religious values and actions you would like or indeed non religious ones.  Please ask us about this.

Whilst we cannot control everything that happens in life, there are certain things we can, and this is definitely one that simplifies what is usually a very difficult time, whether it be temporary or permanent or end of life and is just something we all need to attend to.

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Rather like a "smart" scrapbook, you can encourage your whole family to participate or keep as a personal project. 

 

Timing can be hard.  An accident or serious illness, whether sudden or long term, can mean it is difficult to put your mind to such things as this kind of planning.  Feel reassured that we can guide and support you all the way through, addressing difficult subjects and details, putting all you need together over a period of time that suits you.

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In addition, my daughter, a senior carer, has helped devise an Informal Preparation Session.  In her experience it can come as a shock at a distressing time when certain things you had not thought of, are being asked of you, making it difficult to deal with.  This service is included in the Life Support Service.  The Informal Preparation Session happens in anticipation of a loved one's passing, and the Life Support Service starts after the loved one has passed.  Please ask us if you are interested in using this service.

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A sensitive, experienced and strong supporting hand is what is being offered here. We will look at the number of decisions and choices ahead, what tasks there may be and some of the decisions that might need to be made.  Some of these are often unexpected and so can be particularly challenging.  We will also look at who is making the decisions and whether necessary documents are in place to prepare in case capacity is lost.  We will consider personal wishes, funeral arrangements and the preparation for that. Experience shows us that preparing for what may or will happen next, rather than trying to deal with things when they are at their most emotional or stressful is what most clients would have preferred.  We are always available for further discussions on difficult subjects before, during or after difficult times.  We do believe in the human aspect of personal relationships and support.

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A very important part of creating an Advance Care Plan is to protect you from feeling dehumanised in any way, either through  accident, sudden or progressive illness.  

Your ACP therefore, provides a complete care package that enables you to consider the legalities, personal wishes and needs, practical measures, faith and religious beliefs, temporary or end of life care wishes and will form part of your Life Care Planning and relevant documents.  Whether it be used during a period from which you recover or rehabilitate, or through a period which becomes your best end of life care, anyone looking at your Advance Care Plan will see a full package of information which can be updated at any time.